Earthweek: A Diary of the Planet

Dec. 27, 2012

Written by

Steve Newman

A project to map Earth's deepest-living forms of life has found a bizarf microbe half a world away from where it was initially found, isolated from all other life on the planet. Candidatus Desulforudis audaxviator is a bacterium that has evolved to live and proliferate without sunlight, relying on mineral food sources that result from radioactive decay in the surrounding rock for energy.

It was initially found two miles underground in South Africa. But the Census of Deep Life found a sample with 99 percent identical DNA in boreholes 3,000 feet beneath the surface near Death Valley, Calif. Researchers say D. audaxviator probably started out as a more traditional life form, but evolved to live deeper. It could have spread around the world in underground water flows. Another theory has it being brought to the surface in springs, then carried by the wind across a wide area, where it once again sank to great depths.

Shark Refuge

Sharks now have new refuges totaling 2.5 million square miles in French Polynesia and the Cook Islands where they are safe from fishermen. Up to a third of all shark species face some threat of extinction, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. They are slaughtered around the world for their fins, which are prized in Chinese culture and used to make soup.

Sharks are often caught, their fins sawed off and then discarded still alive only to tumble uncontrollably in the water until they die. The new refuges established this month are in addition to several others that have recently been designated around the world. Venezuela and the European Union have banned the practice of cutting off shark fins and discarding the body at sea.

Deadly Tornado Fungus

Researchers are warning public health officials of a potentially deadly infection that can quickly begin to kill people after violent tornado outbreaks. Studies by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Translational Genomics Research Institute focused on the deaths from infections in the Joplin, Mo., 2011 tornado disaster zone. They found some were infected by the fungus Apophysomyces, which is common in the soil, wood or water. It usually has no effect on humans. But when it is stirred up by tornado-force winds and enters deep puncture wounds caused by debris, it can spread uncontrollably through the body if not caught early.

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Five of the 13 people infected with it around Joplin died within two weeks of the tornado that devastated the community. Once the infection begins to ravage the body, the only option is to surgically remove sections of dead, damaged or infected tissue, in a process known as debridement.

South Seas Cyclone

Cyclone Evan destroyed homes on Fiji with high winds and downpours. Evan's Category 4 intensity wrecked western parts of Fiji's main island of Viti Levu. Witnesses describe the area as looking like a 'war zone.' The storm had earlier killed 14 people on Samoa and caused damage worse than from a 2009 earthquake and tsunami that killed 135 there.

Earthquakes

Residents and tourists in eastern parts of Sulawesi rushed into the streets as a sharp temblor struck the northern Indonesian island. There were no reports of significant damage or injuries.

Ecuadoran Blasts

People living on the slopes of Ecuador's towering Tungurahua volcano rushed from their homes as a plume of gas and ash rose in the mountain's crater. Residents said rumblings associated with the eruption shook their windows and sounded like cannon fire. Chunks of molten lava could be seen shooting from the summit crater as ash soared three miles into the sky over the Andes.

Dingo Thief

A British tourist enjoying Australia's summertime sun lost thousands of dollars worth of cash and jewelry to a dingo that stole a bag containing her valuables on a New South Wales beach. Another beach visitor photographed the wild dog heist, revealing the culprit had a distinctive leg that was mainly white. This led officials to eventually track down the canine crook, which allegedly had a history of such thievery.

Officials say they were forced to administer a single rifle shot to put the dog down because it had become dangerously aggressive. The British woman's valuables were not recovered. The dingo is a protected animal in Australia, with certain habitats designated for pure dingos that have not interbred with other wild dogs.